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Court Turns Down Latest Attempt To Intervene In Oregon Gay Marriage Case

File photo of the James R. Browning U.S. Court of Appeals Building in San Francisco.
Wikimedia
File photo of the James R. Browning U.S. Court of Appeals Building in San Francisco.

A federal judge in Oregon this spring cleared the way for same-sex marriages to begin when state officials refused to defend the voter-approved ban in court. Now, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has turned down an attempt by the National Organization For Marriage to step in.

File photo of the James R. Browning U.S. Court of Appeals Building in San Francisco.
Credit Wikimedia
/
Wikimedia
File photo of the James R. Browning U.S. Court of Appeals Building in San Francisco.

The court said that the organization basically was not able to show that its members and the voters that it said it represented had any standing in the case. They said that it wasn't a relevant enough interest in this case for them to be able to intervene.

The National Organization For Marriage can appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court but there's no guarantee the high court will take up the case.

The Oregon lawsuit was originally brought by four same-sex couples who sued for the right to get married.

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman
Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.